Glory is mine

No, not a podium. I will have to continue dreaming of that. But yes, some glassware is now mine. Read on to find out more!

Race 2 saw another nice start off the line, skipping past two cars. One nipped back in front at the hairpin but that still left Chris Buckley behind me. Paul Hagen seemed to be having problems in fast corners, so a better exit onto the pit straight let me slipstream past him and nip past next time we went through the hairpin. He wasn't keen on that, though, and took the place back soon after. A slip in the infield section sent Paul wide, though, letting me past again. Paul tried again next time we met the hairpin, and slipped past me there a lap later leaving me very defensive against a keen-to-pass Chris.
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Pembrey

Well, I didn’t go to the Anglesey race last month because it was too far away. I went to Pembrey last week instead, which is an interesting form of logic if not an entirely consistent one. I really had no idea the M4 was that long. It is an interesting moment to join a motorway at junction 4A and be told by the Satnav to exit at junction 48. Yes, Four Eight, Forty-Eight. I made it in time for dinner, though, but only via the cunning plan of calling the restaurant and asking them to put my dinner reservation back an hour.

Pembrey is an interesting place, and this was my first visit. Imagine a beautiful setting (provided you don’t look towards Port Talbot), with panoramic vistas of mountains in the background as you approach, va...

And the new year starts

And straight in at the deep end, too. Donington Park was the venue for our first meeting of the year, Avid readers will know that Donington and I have, well, "history". Ever since my first ever race, in which I was punted off at the Esses in the first lap, through the Autumn Trophy races later that year when I managed to go off three times in two races at, err, the Esses, to last year's race when I managed to put the car into (and I mean, literally, "into") the barrier and set fire to its (thankfully...) soft and squidgy covering. If I recall correctly, that was at the Esses. In the first lap.

So obviously, the perfect venue for me to try out a new racing championship in ...

2014!

A decision is made for next year - I'll be taking part in the Caterham Graduates championship, in the Sigma Grads class.

I'm really, incredibly grateful to Caterham for all their work during 2012 and 2013 in the Academy and the Roadsports championships, and (frankly) I'm a little sad to be leaving the fold. But the upgrade to the next series (Tracksports) is a bit pricey and I'm also quite keen to keep the clubby atmosphere that we have had up to now. I'd also like to crash a little less often (!) and the smaller grids and tighter governance of driving standards of the Grads appeals in that regard.

There is also a slightly touchy subject - that of the race officials. There has been a feeling that the officials' decisions in 201...